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Working to End HIV
Posted by Wesley Dodson on September 25, 2012 Could HIV soon follow in the footsteps of smallpox and polio? On The Pump Handle, Sara Gorman says that recent research has “allowed political figures such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to proclaim that the phenomenon of a generation without HIV/AIDS is within reach.” But no vaccine has proven effective at curtailing HIV infection,…
Is Non-Organic a No-Brainer?
Posted by Wesley Dodson on September 21, 2012 A Stanford University analysis of over 200 nutritional studies found little evidence that organic food is better for you than conventional food. But health is affected by more than vitamins and minerals; for example by the chemical chlorpyrifos, which was banned for indoor use but continues to be sprinkled on our food crops. In California’s…
Tomorrow’s Tide
Posted by Wesley Dodson on September 17, 2012 On a pilgrimage to Glacier National Park, Ethan Siegel notes “the hike to Grinnell Glacier is nearly a mile longer than it was when the trail was first constructed.” Worldwide, nearly 90% of glaciers are shrinking, and “glacial melt is contributing noticeably to the overall sea level of our planet.” The park itself will be…
All Arms on Deck
Posted by Wesley Dodson on September 13, 2012 On The Pump Handle, Anthony Robbins discusses his tenure at NIOSH, the World Health Organization’s drive to vaccinate people around the world, and the fallout of the CIA’s decision to use a vaccination program as a subterfuge for spying operations in Pakistan. Robbins writes, “WHO had hoped to complete global polio elimination by 2005, but…
Animal Bodies Rearranged
Posted by Wesley Dodson on September 5, 2012 On Pharyngula, PZ Myers considers a computer model which posits that bones are simply exoskeletons turned inside-out. Myers writes “We know from the homology of the patterning molecules involved that vertebrates and invertebrates are upside-down relative to each other, so at some point an ancestor flipped.” Such major differences in body plan arise during embryonic…
In Memory, on the Moon
Posted by Wesley Dodson on August 31, 2012 Neil Armstrong, first man to walk (and take a photograph) on the Moon, died August 25th at the age of eighty-two. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin turned a primordial fantasy into reality, and what we knew was possible changed in the space of a television broadcast. On Universe, Claire L. Evans honors the human spirit as…
Threatening Zoonoses
Posted by Wesley Dodson on August 27, 2012 Two weeks after an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda, the same disease is circulating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But the outbreaks have been caused by two distinct subtypes of virus, meaning they were not spread from one country to the other. The same thing happened in 1976, when over 500 people died…
Runaway Warming
Posted by Wesley Dodson on August 22, 2012 The extent of Arctic sea ice undulates like a yearly sine wave—rising in October, peaking in winter, and melting all spring and summer. This September we are likely to observe the lowest of lows; Greg Laden writes “There is less sea ice in the Arctic Circle than recorded in recent history.” More ice has also…
Published in 2012
Posted by Wesley Dodson on August 16, 2012 Information exchange defines us as humans, and perhaps even as living things. In 2012, we’re approaching a whole new level. Greg Laden introduces us to Apple’s iBook, which handles images better than a generic eBook. Greg says “An iBook can be a product that has almost no writing in it at all, or it can…
New Wheels on Mars
Posted by Wesley Dodson on August 8, 2012 Despite NASA’s teasing prospect of a crash landing, the Curiosity rover touched down on Mars without a hitch. It is the biggest, most expensive, and best-equipped scientific instrument to ever reach the Red Planet. On Thoughts from Kansas, Josh Rosenau writes: With its plutonium-fueled power plant, its robotic arms, and its rock-destroying lasers, Curiosity’s goal…
